Strike action in Institutes of Technology on Wednesday, February 3rd

By piofficer, Monday, 1st February 2016 | 0 comments

4,000 lecturers in the country’s 14 Institutes of Technology will take a day’s strike action on Wednesday, February 3rd over a range of crisis issues within their sector. The strike has been organised by the TUI and follows an overwhelming mandate from members for industrial action after a national ballot in December.The strike action is supported by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).

Key areas of concern include:

  • The hugely detrimental effect of an era of cutbacks on the quality of service to students (larger class sizes, less access to laboratories, tutorials, student support etc)
     
  • The chronic underfunding of the Institutes of Technology (35% cut to sector- €190m – between 2008 and 2015)
     
  • The critically low staffing levels in the sector at a time of a steep and ongoing increase in student numbers and the consequential unacceptable workload imposition on lecturers (21,411 or 32% rise in student numbers in sector between 2008 and 2015 / 535 or 9.5% fall in full-time academic staff numbers in sector between 2008 and 2015) and
     
  • The precarious employment status, income poverty and associated exploitation of many academic staff
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